In a known example of a vehicle body rear portion structure, a bumper beam spans a rear end section of left and right rear side frames interposed by a rear panel, a rear panel upper member is provided above the bumper beam (i.e., upper section of the rear panel), a load-transmitting beam is provided, at an upward slope toward the vehicle front, to left and right end sections of the rear panel upper member, a front end section of the left and right load-transmitting beams is connected to left and right closed-cross-section skeletal sections, and the left and right closed-cross-section skeletal sections are provided to left and right side sections of the vehicle body.
In accordance with this structure for a vehicle body rear portion, the impact load is applied to the bumper beam and the rear panel upper member in the case that a counterpart vehicle has collided from the rear of the vehicle. The impact load applied to the bumper beam is transmitted to the left and right rear side frames.
The impact load applied to the rear panel upper member is transmitted to the left and right load-transmitting beams, and is transmitted to the left and right closed-cross-section skeletal sections via the left and right load-transmitting beams.
The impact load transmitted to the left and right closed-cross-section skeletal sections is transmitted to the left and right side sections of the vehicle body via the left and right closed-cross-section skeletal sections (e.g., see Patent Literature 1).